ISA Comparison: Which ISA is Best in the UK? After covering each ISA in detail, it’s time to bring them all together. This post puts Cash, Stocks & Shares, Lifetime, Junior, Help-to-Buy, and Innovative Finance ISAs side by side – showing how they compare and how you might combine them. A quick refresher on ISA […]
Innovative Finance ISAs (IFISAs) Explained Alongside the familiar Cash and Stocks & Shares ISAs, there is a little-known option: the Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA). These accounts let you lend money through peer-to-peer platforms or crowdfunding projects and keep the interest tax-free. While the tax treatment is the same as other ISAs, the risks are very
Lifetime ISA, Junior ISA & Help-to-Buy Explained Beyond the standard Cash and Stocks & Shares ISAs, there are targeted “special ISAs” designed for specific purposes – buying your first home, saving for retirement, or putting money aside for children. These can be highly valuable, but they come with strict eligibility rules and penalties if used
Lifetime ISA, Junior ISA & Help-to-Buy Explained Read More »
Cash vs Stocks & Shares ISAs Explained ISAs are the UK’s simplest tax-free wrapper. For most people, the starting point is a Cash ISA, but many will also be aware of, if not already using, a Stocks & Shares ISA. They broadly operate the same, providing tax-free income and/or gains, but there are other less
Emergency Funds: The Practical Reality Check The standard advice is simple: save 3-6 months of expenses for emergencies. But if you’re a young professional with good earning potential, minimal financial commitments, and a safety net, does this rule actually make sense? And more importantly, what counts as an emergency anyway? What Actually Is an Emergency
I work in finance. I know how to optimise. But I also think it’s important to know when to stop. You don’t need to chase every pound. Sometimes, good enough is good enough. Some things are just not worth the stress I have a pension. It’s allocated sensibly. Could I squeeze a few more basis
If you’ve ever asked whether to prioritise your ISA or your pension, you’ll have seen two things: So here’s my take. What I Actually Use Right Now What I accounts I have and consider ‘active’: On the pension side it has always been through work schemes. In my first job out of uni, I did
Most of my financial habits are pretty boring. We track our expenses every month. I salary sacrifice into my pension so it disappears before I see it. Our investments go into default plans labelled “adventurous” – though if we’re honest, they’re not doing anything especially brave. We sit down once a month and look over
You Don’t Need to Be an Expert — But You Do Need a System Read More »
There’s a certain irony to working in private markets, helping structure multi-billion pound funds into niche strategies, only to realise that my own financial life is best run basically on autopilot. No leverage (outside of my mortgage). No exotic bets. No crypto. No market timing. Just regular saving, simple investing and tracking of spending. Basically